SXSW Sydney 2025 was an absolute blast. I am honored that Memoirium was invited to showcase, and I am still recovering from how much fun it was to be there.
While I was only in Sydney for six days, each day was filled with merriment, learning, and a lot of standing by Memoirium’s booth. SXSW Sydney was my first international event for Memoirium, and it definitely set that bar. I do truly hope I get the chance to attend more expos/events/conventions next year.
I still can’t believe I got to see Brennan Lee Mulligan in person. First at his keynote speech, and then at the hilarious show of Endless Dungeon the very next day. Although I would say that the highlight of the whole experience for me was meeting fellow game developers and trying out their games. Hearing and learning other people’s stories and feeling the fire of their passion was absolutely heartwarming.
The very first game I tried while I was still jetlagged and recovering from a long plane ride was Take Us North. I saw on the schedule that it was being showcased at the park, and I thought I would try it out. The setup at the park was not what I was expecting; they had a TV and a couch to play on, and they were streaming the game on two large screens on either side of the stage. It was amazing to see a game being played on such a large LED.
I met the Creative Director, and was delighted to learn she was half-Guatemalan and half-Filipino. She explained to me that Take Us North was a game about crossing the US-Mexico border, but more than that, it was about sharing stories to humanize those who are typically treated as less than human. Take Us North is still in its early stages, but from what I played through, everything looked beautiful. They had voice acting that was captivating, and character art that made me want to hear more about their histories. While I’m not from the US, I know enough that the game will be very impactful, and that’s why I love video games and art in general, because of their power to convey things that others might have never understood.
On my first day of showcasing Memoirium, I got to see so many amazing games on the showcase floor. I sadly didn’t get to try them all, but every game I tried was an instant add to my wishlist. One booth next to mine was Night Plane. They were a team from New Zealand, and I befriended them and got to try their game. After playing the demo, I was dying to play more (this was true for all the demos I tried). Another game I tried was the adorable Llamalandia. The Game Director of Llamalandia and I hit it off right away. We formed a bond based on playful teasing, and we shared so much laughter together.
I also got to meet two teams under Outersloth who were in attendance as well. Their games were Desktop Explorer and Am I Nima. We quickly bonded over our shared publisher and our burning passion for games. When I played Desktop Explorer, I was immediately sucked in and also had to lock in right away because they had a 10-minute timer for the showcase demo (big brain move, really). Playing Am I Nima was a similar experience in that I was entranced from the beginning by the art style and the unsettling story. They were also handing out drawings to whoever played!
Lil Guys and Angel were other games I discovered that were also by solo developers (Lil Guys also had a stand-up comedian). We became friends and connected over our pain and joy in working alone. Goodnight Universe was another spectacular game in attendance. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the opportunity to play it, but I was able to meet the art director for the game, and he’s awesome.
Across from Memoirium’s booth was a really fun precision platformer called Speck, and accompanying the developer was another dev making a soulslike called Skelemental. It was a crazy coincidence because I had been following his game and was also already part of his Discord. We hit it off right away and talked shop about making a soulslike in Unreal Engine.
I got tons of invaluable feedback, and wrote down a lot of notes on changes I wanted to make as soon as I got back to work. I do have to think about making a specific build for showcases. The biggest issue is that players will leave the game running and not go back to the main menu. Which is fair because they shouldn’t have to, but what happened was that I had to manually quit back to the starting screen every time. All of this made it difficult to leave my booth alone, especially during the final day, which was the busiest. It will be better for me in the future to create a function that resets the game automatically, either by using a timer or by a number of deaths. There may be showcases where I am not even present, so it’s certainly a good idea.
For those still reading this, thank you for sticking around. My trip to Sydney was one I will never forget, from eating KBBQ with new friends to doing Karaoke. I didn’t even go to see anything else, such as the zoo or even the Opera House. My days were filled with games, talks, and making new friends. Oh, and on the Awards Night, I may or may not have done a shoey.
GoldenGratus Games 